gook

plural gooks

1. A person of East or Southeast Asian descent (originally revolutionaries of the Katipunan then generally to any native of the Philippines, after the enemy and collaborators hid amongst them), but now especially:
   1. USderogatoryethnicoffensiveslangslurvulgarA Korean person (especially the North Koreans during the Korean War).

      A few days later he had a 'damned good party' at NORMASH, drinking brandy, and he then 'beat up a Gook [Korean] village.' This resulted in an 'awful hangover all day', […] Later, he walked back to his unit, alone at three o'clock in the morning, having 'swiped a Gook torch.'

      2002, Colin Baker, Wild Goose: The Life and Death of Hugh Van Oppen, pages 59–60

   2. USderogatoryethnicoffensiveslangslurvulgarA Vietnamese person (including, but not limited to, Vietcong in the Vietnam War).

      Of course, I've got so many confirmed kills I lost count. Nobody believes me because the gooks drag off their dead.

      1979, Gustav Hasford, The Short-Timers, New York: Bantam Books, published 1980, →ISBN, page 57

      Synonyms: dink

2. datedderogatoryA foreigner (to the speaker), especially the (enemy) natives of a place the speaker's military is at war with or in.

   "Haiti is a country with a history, […]" "but how about the Marines, and the gendarmerie; aren't they on the job?" […] "You know darn well a civilian can't get away with handling a gook like a Marine can; […]"

   1924 September 30, John Webb, “Henri II”, in Adventure, volume 48, number 6, page 101

   1 more example

   In scenes [in Flight, 1929] based on the Marines' slaughter of several hundred Nicaraguan rebels at the Battle of Ocotal in July 1927, the two heroes, who are rivals for the hand of a vivacious nurse (Lila Lee), repeatedly attack the "gooks" in support of their comrades on the ground.

   1999, M. Paul Holsinger, War and American Popular Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, Greenwood Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 204

   1. RhodesiadatedderogatoryA black insurgent in the Rhodesian Bush War.

      "But shit, man, don't we do a fucking good job of it. Jesus, we slew long gooks this last trip," quipped Mark.

      1997, Dick Gledhill, One Commando: Rhodesia's Last Years & the Guerilla^([sic]) War It Never Lost, page 55

plural gooks

1. countableinformaluncountableGrime or mud.

   "Roost No More" was a yellow gook that Joe's people would spread around, for a fee, on the ledges of houses and commercial buildings plagued by pigeons.

   1983, Len O'Connor, A Reporter in Sweet Chicago, →ISBN, page 351

plural gooks

1. slangA dull or hapless person.

   the poor old gook was spitting blood

   1949, P.G. Wodehouse, The Mating Season

plural gooks

1. CornwallA bonnet (headwear).

   Some say 'Mar Teazer do live in pattens and gook; must go to bed in 'em I'm thinking!

   1893, Dolly Pentreath, In a Cornish Township with Old Vogue Folk, page 26

present singular third person gooks · participle present gooking · participle past gooked · past gooked

1. ambitransitivechildishSynonym of look.

   Synonyms: look